ATLANTA -- I saw you yesterday. You were cheering for Tom Brady like little schoolgirls. You were loving Bill Belichick and all his signal-stealing ways. Heck, you were even turning to each other and thanking the football gods for making Randy Moss "an incredible team player."

You danced with the Devil yesterday. And you let him lead.

You disgust me. You bandwagon jumpers.

Okay, I'm just nudging you because this Giants-Falcons game feels like it's never, ever, ever going to start. So I guess I needed to pick a fight or something to pass the time.

Truth is, I totally understand why you were doing that little flex-out move like Moss did after his touchdown against the Jets and Wes Welker mimicked yesterday. It's because the Pats did you folks a Giant favor yesterday by beating the Cowboys. Can you believe that if the Giants win tonight, they'll be only one game back in the NFC East (not counting the half-game their behind the 'Boys for the head-to-head tiebreaker because that doesn't mean squat until the season series is over)? I can't.

And here's an added benefit you might have missed yesterday: With each win, the Pats move closer to locking up a playoff berth, the division, home-field advantage, etc. Why should you care about that? Because they're the Giants' opponent in Week 17. So start rooting for NE because if they sew up home field, Moss and Brady will have to find other ways to stay warm on Dec. 29 than playing football because they won't see the field that day. And that'll be good because the Giants could be playing for a playoff berth or division title that night.

Of course, you might wanna stop rooting for the Pats at, say, Week 16 if they're undefeated. I could imagine Belichick's monster ego would want to finish out a perfect season.

Oh, and hope that Brady has locked up all the passing records, too.

Nothing like getting ahead of myself, huh?

***

TONIGHT'S GAME: at Falcons, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

PLAYERS TO WATCH: I'm telling you, the best way to get at the Falcons is to send WR Plaxico Burress after CB DeAngelo Hall. Get his head out of the game and you'll see this defense crumble like a deck of cards. Of course, if he makes a play, it could firm up that D. He's a key player.

On the other side, and I mentioned this the other day, it's TE Alge Crumpler and the Giants' back seven. They've got to cover that dude. Also, watch Atlanta's RBs because they're quick and shifty. Remember LB Mathias Kiwanuka's cutback-lane issues in the preseason? I'm not saying they're going to resurface, just that tonight would be a bad time for that to happen.

THE LINE: Giants by 4. Over-under 43½.

THE PICK: Vegas killed me by flicking the line up a half-point, so now my prediction in the paper (Giants 28, Falcons 24) is a push. Here. I'll have to make it Giants 28, Falcons 23. I was going with the ATL if they weren't without BOTH starting OTs. As is, that'll be way too much for them to overcome.

(UPDATE: Giants 28, Falcons 21 on account of Vegas' reading my blog and continuing to move the line up. See gmen's and my comments below. If it gets over seven points by kickoff I'll take ATL.)